Sacramento City Council Approves Rules For New Gun Shops

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The Sacramento City Council approved new hurdles in the way of new gun stores in the city.

The council voted 7-1 on Tuesday to approve the new restrictions on potential new shops. Councilman Alan Warren voted against it, while Mayor Kevin Johnson missed the meeting because he was out of town.

Right now, there are nine operating gun stores in the city of Sacramento.

“Guns aren’t the problem. Guns aren’t the issue.”

John Deaser owns one of those stores, Just Guns. He says the city council is targeting gun enthusiasts.

Councilman Jay Schenirer proposed the permit restrictions. He represents the District 5, which includes Oak Park—a community that has suffered from the ravages of violent crime.

Some of the measure includes city leaders determining where a store can open, the hours of operation, and if people in the neighborhood want it.

If there are a lot of complaints at city hall, the proposed store doesn’t have a chance.

“What this is going to do really is give people in the neighborhood, or someone that might want to settle, a voice in the process.”

Josh says some gun store owners believe politicians are just looking for feel-good policies to appease their constituents’ concerns about violent crime.

He believes they have their sights trained on the wrong targets.

“If its a safety concern, morality concern, and they think guns are bad, well let’s start with the pawn shops, the liquor stores, the pot shops, the sex shops.”

Schenirer says the new regulation won’t affect current gun-store owners, and it won’t go into effect for 30 days.